Friday, July 17, 2009

Stila Makeup Brushes BIG Round Up

Why pick Stila when there is MAC? Well, Stila brushes are soft, practical, sturdy and at least the numbers don't fade (I have no energy to paint over all the MAC brushes with clear nail polish only to have it chip and crack later) Beside that, the font Stila uses is just too cute. They totally deserve nice flowers(-bed as background) from me!

This is just a handful of them. Through out the year, I have collected more than just a handful of Stila makeup brushes so you will be seeing much more than what's in the cover page.

First here are the eyeliner brushes.#4 Precision Eye Liner Soft pony, small area that's perfect for the tear ducts or lining with shadow. (It doesn't work well when it's wet since it soaks up all the water but none of the shadow color.) The side and flab work very well for the Smudge Pots as well as any cream shadow or Too Faced primer that I am too lazy to use.

There are a mini that came with a gift set, standard long handle as well as the silver short handle (called #4s) they are pretty much the same thing. It's handy to have more than one when I want to wear multiple colored eyeliners.#13 One Step Eyeliner The Teflon push eyeliner brush for tight-lining. The bristle of the short handle the one on the right) is more sparse and thin,perfect for a very natural, very thin but a bit diffused line while the long one has thicker individual bristle and overall denser touch for a more precise and slightly thicker line.

I call the #13 short handle the "Push" eyeliner brush and the standard #13 "Poke" Eyeliner brush because of the firm bristles. If you usually like to avoid poking yourself in the eye, go for Tarte flat eyeliner brush instead since the tip is very gentle yet it still gets the job done. (#13s is no longer available on Stila's site,what a bummer.)

#28 Line and Smudge (Stila Website call it smudge and line...So you scratch your skin before lining your eyes with that?)

This brush is designed for their smudge pots, (do I need to say more?) you can also use the liner side for dampened shadow since it doesn't absorb water.It gives a thinner line compared to #4 brush but for ultra thin line, it's a bit chubby.

The smudge tip is a tad bit harsh to be used for powdered shadow, at least in my opinion.

Eye Shadow #9 Blending BrushA basic blending brush to get rid of harsh edges as well a creating a gradation in intensity. The short (silver) handled one has pretty much the same crown so I just went with this. (It's easier to pull a long handle out from a brush roll.)

P.S. Beside the #9 (and I am planning on getting the #5 allover shadow brush...but I am still thinking, since I suck at applying eyeshadow...See my Nars Habanera eye of the day? That's as dramatic as I can go without looking like a clown, seriously.) all the other black handled eyeshadow brush I have are double sided, so it's like paying one price and getting 2 brushes!

#15 Double Sided Shadow and Liner The tapered side is like a much smaller version of their #5 all over shadow brush. The bristle is firm and soft to the touch, good for grabbing a butt load of creamy base shadow allover the lid.

The other side is decent for tear duck and for applying a somewhat thick eyeliner with powder shadow.

#20 Eye EnhancerThe slanted side is very soft (think a tiny fluffy blusher brush) Because the way it's constructed slanted, it picks up firmly pressed shadow nicely (like those Wet n Wild i-Sparkle Palettes or that Mega Eye Shadow in Goddess) and it's also perfect for the area where side of nose bridge and eye brow meet.

Smaller side is good for adding highlight (after a smokey eye) at the center of upper lid or inner corners.

#19 Allover Shimmer brushThe retractable brush is designed for their allover shimmer. With a soft and airy flat top, it's good for allover highlight, I think that's it.

#30 Double Sided Eye Shorter side that is shaped like a duck beak, is smooth and soft. You can use the tip to smudge shadow at the lash line or for more delicate under eye area. Small area is nice for brow bone as well.The longer side is like a softer, smoother and smaller version of #9 blending brush. Good for reaching the crease. (Since I have none, I have no clue where else to use it.)Brow#28 Double Sided BrowSmall side for applying brow color. I already look like Crayon Shin-chan without any brow filling...And I look weird with thinner brows so I guess this is good whenever I want to look like a guy.

The other side for evenly dispensing it. As bushy as my brows are. (No thanks, I have no intention to trim then to fill them in. ) I admit that I bought it just because it looks cute.

Cheeks#21 Double Duty Cheek and ContourThis brush is actually my first most used and favorite Stila product ever. It has puppy soft hair and a cute chunky handle, I use it mainly for giving a light touch of some very pigmented blushers like that Anna Sui Just Slapped Face Color Accent, Jane Shimmering Blush, Benefit Thrrrob or Coralista...Urgh, I just use it for all blushers.

I usually pick the brushes based on the reviews on makeup alley, I picked the ones with 4.5/5 or higher so I am generally pretty happy with how they work. I could use 1 or 2 more eyeshadow brushes like #5 (allover) and #9 (blending) since I am too lazy to wash them all the time or I will go with the Sonia Kashuk squiggly.

Since I was having too much fun with Microsoft paint...Here is a diagram with my exceptionally swollen eye (my eyes get that kind of prominent-enough crease whenever I pull an all-night-er, but I generally need 10 hours of sleep to function properly...Shame on me) showing the target area of each brush. Of course you can use them whatever way you want. I mean, you can use the brow brush to groom your sideburns if you have them...

Don't worry...The main reason I try to make my pictures pretty so that I can trick other people into reading the crap I wrote...As the whole world knows I have horrible writing skill.)

P.S. (Since I am very arrogant self centered) I think the nice pictures are more due to my skill than the $100 camera (which should depreciate to 50 bucks by now) ...Anyway, it does work wonderfully with natural light though...I suggest anybody who don't mind getting sunburn to get this...

Haha brush my side burns. You have so many nice Stila brushes. The reviews on Makeup Alley make the smudge and line brush sound great! But $32 is quite a bit of money. (yet I'm considering getting the NARS Yachiyo brush 5/5 what can I say)